Shooting damages businesses

Police investigating last week's late-night gunfire in Georgetown

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An Aug. 21 shooting damaged windows at three Georgetown businesses on South Bailey Street including the Bank of America and El Pirata Tortas. / Photos by Steve Lannen

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Seattle Police are investigating a late-night shooting in Georgetown last week that caused damage to nearby cars and three businesses.

No injuries were reported, a police spokesman later said. 

Early Friday, Aug. 21, a witness told emergency dispatchers they saw someone fire a gun from the passenger seat of a black sedan driving south on 13th Avenue S.

When police arrived on scene, passersby told them they thought a shooting occurred at 6113 12th Ave. S near the Interstate 5 underpass and South Harney Street. There, officers found cartridge casings and unspent rounds. Three nearby vehicles were struck by bullets, according to a police report.

Around the corner at the intersection of South Bailey Street and Ellis Avenue, police found three businesses damaged by gunfire: Bank of America, El Pirata Tortas and The Lighting Group.

As of Wednesday afternoon, all had plywood covering portions of their windows damaged by gunfire.

The owner of El Pirata, Pedro Degollado, said he counted at least nine bullet holes in his shop windows and in the windows directly above. Fired rounds broke the glass doors of both his food and beverage refrigerators and damaged his Internet. Broken glass covered the computers and floors. He estimates it will cost more than $10,000 to make repairs and replacements.

The shop was closed at the time of the shooting and opened for only the second half of Friday, Degollado said.  

“If something happened during service hours, they definitely could have killed someone,” he said.

The motive and events surrounding the shooting are unclear. In the 11 p.m. hour of Thursday night, Aug. 20, dispatchers received reports of people pushing and shoving each other at a venue in the 1200 block of South Bailey Street. About 12:15 a.m., someone reported hearing about 15 gunshots nearby. Later on, dispatchers took an unconfirmed report of a man with a gun at a party on Bailey Street. Then, the reported shooting occurred a little before 2 a.m. at 13th Avenue S and South Bailey.

It is unconfirmed if the shooter(s) attended the party or were at the venue.

The police report contained a description of the alleged shooter: A thin man in his late 20s, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, with black hair and a black hoodie with the words “North End Gang.”

For several months late at night, Degollado said he has seen young people in the driveway next to the BRO 502 barber shop. This reporter has also seen people congregating late at night in the Bank of America parking lot and in the lot between South Bailey and South Angelo streets behind the block with the barber shop.

“I always see young people on the weekends" after 10 p.m., Degollado said. "I was always wondering, 'Why are people hanging out there?'”

Efforts to find anyone connected to the venue were unsuccessful.